


The Singer's Auto Scramble

by lmhawk



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Actually running the scrapyard, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Pet Angels, Ash Harvelle - Freeform, Consensual Sex, Consent Issues, F/M, Flashbacks, Harvelle's Roadhouse, M/M, Meaning angels have four genders, Mentioned Crowley, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Sex offscreen, Sharing a Bed, actually talking about consent issues, jumps around time wise, starts slow, well sort of platonic, will get much longer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-17 08:37:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1381063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmhawk/pseuds/lmhawk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU- John Winchester knows that angels are just pets, but that doesn't stop him from teaching his three, Sam,Dean and Adam, to be hunters.But he's dead, the Roadhouse has burned down, Bobby Singer's house is full and the boys, and those they gather around them, both angel and human, are caught in the middle of conflicts both supernatural and mundane, and something big is going down.</p><p>or</p><p>Angels are just as smart as people, but are kept as pets, some people know that's wrong but argue about what to do about it, everyone is living with Bobby, Ellen and Bobby try to figure out their relationship, more and more angels start moving in,they go through more condoms than Bobby ever thought possible, they're still hunting, and life just keeps going.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Overview

Bobby Singer, John Winchester, and Ellen Harvelle weren't what you'd call activists. Sure, they were all for equality, but they wouldn't actively try to do anything about inequality unless they witnessed it directly. Which was why it was so shocking to people when they went out of their way to treat their angels with respect. Angels were a semi-humanoid species that had hit the market maybe ten years ago, having been cooked up in labs and sold as pets. Once they started breeding on their own, they became more and more prevalent, showing up all over the place, most people treated angels as animals, to be used as they saw fit, and many even bought them as sex slaves. The truth was, angels were as intelligent as humans and could easily learn to speak, to interact socially and to function independently in human society. Of course most people chose to ignore that fact.

Mary Winchester had been one of the few people who saw that façade. She had been unable to have children, and when her adoption request was denied, she was devastated. Her husband John knew he had to do something, so he bought her an angel, but he could only afford a very difficult fledgling, which is what young angels were called, who was discounted because he refused to part from his brother, who was too young to really be away from his mother and would need extra care. Mary of course immediately recognized that the little one was just a baby, and she took to the children like glue and named the older one Dean, after her mother, Deanna and the younger one Samuel, after her father. At first, John was skeptical, but as the angels grew and began to call Mary "Mama," and say John's name, he began to see that these really were children, and he began to teach the boys what he could, and love them like sons.

The family had three years of domestic bliss, during which Mary homeschooled the boys and taught them basic reading and math. In any event, it was too good to last. One night, a demon snuck into the house and forced Sam to drink his blood, because the first angles had been constructed from Supernatural stock, and the blood of an angel that drank demon's blood would be powerful and a valuable commodity for his schemes. Mary Winchester caught him in the act, and he killed her and set her on fire, but not before she had the chance to scream and warn John, in the next room, who got a glimpse of her dead body, stuck to the ceiling, before managed to wake Dean, throw Sam into Deans arms and tell them both to run. She then caught on fire and he ran out as her body went up in flames, never forgetting the glimpse he caught of the yellow eyed demon who killed her.

That even left John and the boys homeless, and drove John to seek revenge by becoming a hunter of strange supernatural creatures that preyed on humans. And he trained the boys as hunters too, and dragged them around from cheap motel to cheap motel, teaching them to shoot and fight and protect themselves. He taught them how to lie and steal and figured out how to bind Dean's wings so he could pass as human if need be and taught Dean to be self-reliant and take care of Sam. He himself learned all he could about what happened when angels hit puberty and how to treat injured wings and cut wing-wholes into thrift store clothing and how to avoid getting the boys into trouble with the law for little things humans wouldn't think twice about.

In his new life as a hunter, John met others like him, who fought creatures of the dark, and Bobby Singer was one of them. Bobby lived in a small town called Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and ran a scrap yard on the edge of town, which meant that he'd never seen an angel before John brought the boys to meet him. It was probably for the best, because then he saw how the boys were, the way they followed John's orders grumbling and how he got them to go what he wanted with a combination of sweet talking, guilt-tripping and strictness, the same tone used by all the parents he'd observed over the years. He noticed how they asked permission before raiding his kitchen and how they'd shared a jar of peanut butter with spoons and how they'd started squabbling when Sam called Dean out on his table manners. In short, he observed them being boys, and not being animals.

And while John treated his boys like soldiers, Uncle Bobby, as they came to call him, treated them like kids, and taught them things like how to play baseball and how to cook scrambled eggs. He was the one who gave Sam his first dictionary and started him on the path of reading for fun. He showed them old movies he liked taught them about history and art. John was less than thrilled at this, but the boys thrived, and grew to love their Uncle Bobby very much.

As the boys grew older, they spent less time with their Uncle Bobby and more time with their father, because they were able to hunt with their father serving as back-up and eyes in the sky. This meant that they were with him when he burst into the home of Kate Milligan, to find the werewolf they were hunting munching on her heart. Since they didn't have any silver bullets on them, Dean and Sam grabbed the creature from behind, while John ran it through with a silver knife, straight to the heart. It was only then that they heard a muffled sobbing coming from under the table. Dean dropped the body and bent down to see who was crying, and John and Sam quickly followed his example. Kneeling there, tears streaming down his cheeks was a young angel, a few years younger than Sam, who was barely even old enough to hunt. John's parental instinct kicked in, and he reached under the table to pull the child forward, as gently as he could, and cradle the child in his arms, being careful of his wings.

The little boy sobs into John's shoulder. "Please don't take me to the pound!"

John began to stroke the boy's hair. "Why would I do that?"

The boy hiccupped. "When Derek was mad at Mistress, he used to say that he'd take me to the pound, and I'd end up in a tiny cage with no food and then Mistress always said, 'over my dead body,' and now…" he looked down at the corpse on the floor and burst into tears again.

John sighed. "I know it's hard, but…I'm not Derek, and I won't let you go to the pound."

The little boy looked up at him and sniffed. "You won't?"

John shook his head. "I promise. What's your name?"

"Adam." He sniffed again.

John patted his head. "Welcome to the family Adam."

With that exchange, the third Winchester boy had joined the family. He was smaller and less assertive then his brothers, and didn't do as well at combat training, although he had a knack for doing bandages, which John nurtured into a talent for first aid, because it was useful to have somebody around who was good at that sort of thing when they were in a line of work like hunting. Sam had also taken it upon himself to teach Adam how to read, both so he could research, and so that he wouldn't be bored when they left him in the hotel room or in the car while they hunted. Adam was the only Winchester who could see how strange it was that they were treated like humans by John, although he never said much of anything about it. He tried to stay out of any argument that the other boys had with their father or each other, and they were often annoyed with him for not taking sides. When Adam went through his first heat, John cursed the fact that he was Omega, but kept him away from Sam and Dean at their insistence, for the sake of everyone involved. Adam's heats became just one more obstacle to work through in their lives on the road. They all made sure he didn't end up sleeping with Sam or Dean though, because they were brothers, and it was not even worth considering.

The boys grew into men, but couldn't leave their father's side, because they were not legally considered solvent and would probably be rounded up and returned, if not sold off to the highest bidder or put up for adoption, unless they were willing to live off in the woods somewhere. In any event, the three of them saw no reason to leave, until they had a close encounter with Azezel and a truck smashed into the Impala while they were fleeing. John and Dean, in the front seat, were badly injured, while Sam and Adam, in the back seat, were pretty much fine. When rescue crews found them, they took John to a hospital, Dean to a veterinary clinic, and the other two boys to a local shelter. When John found out that Dean died and he lived, he made a deal with Azezel to switch their places. The same day he found out John was dead, Dean broke out of the clinic, busted his siblings out of the shelter, went back to the wrecked Impala to salvage as much as they could, then hotwired a car and drove straight to their Uncle Bobby's house.

Bobby Singer was surprised, to say the least, when the two Winchester boys, who he hadn't seen in years, showed up at his door, with a new brother, and news that their father was dead. Still, he did what any good uncle would do; he took the three young men into his home, and even managed to have the Impala brought to his scrap yard, where he lent Dean the tools to fix her up. He figured that having the boys in his house, his only dealings with angels would be with them, and he'd helped raise two of them, and knew how the third one was raised. Then of course, the Roadhouse burned down, and everything changed.

The Roadhouse was a bar owned by a woman named Ellen Harvelle. Her husband had been a hunter, when he was still alive, and he had worked out of her bar. Once he was dead, she kept the tradition going, and the Roadhouse was a well-known gathering place for hunters to meet up and swap information and stories. John Winchester had been there quite often over the years, and had brought his boys along on a few occasions. There was a policy at the Roadhouse that angels were welcome, as long as they were dressed. The reason for this was simple: the only waitress was an angel herself. When Ellen's husband was alive, they had one son, and called him Ashland, or Ash for short. Ellen's well-meaning great-aunt had sent them an angel right around the time of his birth, and they'd taken the fledgling in as well, and called her Joanna, or Jo for short. Ellen had seen the similarities between the two of them, and had been unable to raise Jo as a mere animal. So Ash and Jo had grown up as siblings, and learned and played together, and, when they got old enough and Ash wasn't away at MIT, worked together at the Roadhouse.

The road house was suspected to have been burned down by the demon Crowley, who was at odds with the demon Azezel, but nobody knew for sure; all Ellen knew was that whatever had burned it down wasn't human. Luckily, she had been running an errand at the time, and had been out of the bar. Jo and Ash were working, but Jo had managed to fly them both out. Nobody else who was in the Roadhouse at the time survived. As soon as Ellen had ascertained that both Jo and Ash were alright, she called Bobby, who was a good friend of both her and her husband, and had been very good to them when they first married. When Bobby heard that they had nowhere else to go, because Ellen, Ash and Jo had kept a small apartment above the Roadhouse, he suggested that they come stay at his house in South Dakota. So Ellen packed everyone up and they left.

Jo got along alright with Sam and Adam, and a little more than alright with Dean, although her mother warned her that she should be careful in that department. In any event, they thought that four angels and three humans would be the total number of people living at Singer's Auto, which didn't count the young hunter Garth, who was there every other day asking for advice, or his angel traveling companion Anna, who was always with him. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen.

The trouble seemed to be, once they started thinking of angels as people, they couldn't just let bad things happen to them. An angel named Castiel who was abandoned in the rain, and stood for hours without anyone helping him, for example, had to be brought in, and allowed to stay, once they found out how abusive his owner was. Or Gabriel, who'd been kicked out of his home/job as a delivery boy when he his puberty, and his owner found out he was an Omega who went into heat, and came to Bobby because he's delivered there before and knew Bobby wouldn't kick him out right away. And once they gained a reputation as people who would take in angels in trouble, many people stared sending them abandoned angels, such as Balthazar, who's owner had been an old woman who doted on Balthazar and left everything to him when she died, only to have it taken away by her estranged niece in court and being cast out. He'd wandered until the police found him, and one of the officers had heard, through the grape-vine, that Bobby Singer had taken Gabriel in, so they went to his door, and Balthazar stayed. And after he moved in, there was Samandriel, a fledgling found out back of the Weiner Hut in town, who refused to say anything other than "Samandriel" for the first week after they brought him in, or Ezekiel, who'd fallen from a great height with his wings bound, and was brought back from the brink of death by Becky, a perky veterinarian who ran a clinic a few towns over, and had heard that Bobby would take desperate cases. Ezekiel refuses to say anything about where he'd come from and how he'd ended up as he did, but was very polite otherwise.

Of course the more angels they took in, the more problems they had. And not just the usual problems one would expect, such as overcrowding, and feathers everywhere, and problems with finding food money, and arguments, and sex, and all the related awkwardness. Oh no. There was also Gordon Walker, head of the Angel Liberation Front, that, while having laudable goals, tended to use extreme tactics and was not adverse to letting angels die "for the cause". Gordon was being used as a pawn by Crowley, who was a demon who was trying to stop Azezel from doing something and setting the Devil himself free. And because the F.B.I agent Michael Novak thought Bobby and Ellen were somehow involved with him, he and his attack angel Lucifer were sniffing around, constantly watching every move they made, so even if Bobby and Ellen didn't consider themselves activists, they were being targeted like them. And, on top of that, there were more demon attacks than ever, and a limited number of human hunters to pick up the slack.


	2. April 1995

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life on the road isn't easy, especially when you have to work around the law at every turn.

The collar itches, and the leash drags and almost trips Dean twice, despite his best efforts, but he can't reach to adjust it, because he has all of the weapons in one bag slung over his right shoulder a bag of groceries in his right hand, and a bag of his clothes in his left. Dean's little brother Sam is faring better, although he has a bag of his clothes in his right hand and a tub of rock salt in his left, because Sam had the foresight to wrap his leash around his neck a few times so the end tapped lightly against his chest instead of dragging by his left foot like Dean's did. Sam chuckles every time Dean almost trips and Dean growls. The second time, John, whose got his journal and the file with all the clippings in it tucked under his arm, his own bag of clothes in one hand, and the bag full of odds and ends in the other turns around and says, "I'm sorry about the leashes boys, but you can take them off as soon as we get to the room."

Dean flaps his left wing to buffet the leash to buffet the leash out of the way to prevent himself from stumbling over it a third time, and looks down sullenly. John sighs and unlocks the door to their motel room. He doesn't think much of the police officer who's just come out of the motel office, pot-bellied and swinging his baton, until the officer stops a few feet from their door and calls out, "You there. I need to talk to you."

John sighs and says "Of course, officer." He takes a few steps toward the officer, putting himself between the man and his boys, then looks back at them and says, "Go inside and get unpacked. I'll be there in a minute."

The policeman pulls a notepad out of his breast pocket, and flips it open before withdrawing the small pencil that goes with it. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. See there's this county ordinance…"

"Angel Ordinance 27." John cuts him off, having read the relevant legislation. "I am well aware of that ordinance, and you'll notice that both my boys have collars and leashes, perfectly within the law."

Sam is just walking past John then, and he flares out his wings so that the right one brushes lightly against John's back. John doesn't give any visual reaction, but he knows that the gesture was a silent show of solidarity, wrapped up in a plea not to get them in trouble. Sam goes into the room and pushes the door so that it's just barely ajar.

The police officer frowns. "Maybe technically, but the implications of the law are that there's somebody holding the other end of the leash."

John sighs. It would be so much easier just to slug this man and tell him that the boys are not animals, that they can be trusted to walk around and not go running off, but he knows it's a losing battle, and it's just past dawn, he's been driving all night and half of yesterday, and all he wants to do is crash and get a few hours of sleep, before he goes and talks to the widow. "The implication behind the law is that the human is in control. And I have full control over my boys."

"The law is in place for a reason," the officer snaps, "and if you can't respect that…" he leaves the threat hanging.

John knows he might be in trouble if he doesn't handle this carefully so he clears his throat. "I'm well aware of that officer. I needed them to help carry all my things in. I tried to follow the letter of the law, if not the unwritten corollary, and it won't happen again. I'll keep them on the leash properly next time."

The police officer looks John up and down, then decides that it's too early in the morning for shit like this, and says, "Fine, but if I ever catch you at it again, I'm calling animal control on your sorry ass."

John keeps his face straight, and says, "I understand officer," but on the inside, he's terrified.

The police officer snorts and walks away, and John makes his way into the motel room and sets his stuff down on the bed before turning to shut the door. The leashes, and collars, he notices, are already on the floor, and Sam is passed out on the bed, while Dean is perched next to him, one hand resting protectively on his brother's wing, staring up at John questioningly.

John sits down on the bed to take his boots off. "I'm not in legal trouble." He says to answer Dean's unasked question. "Not yet anyway."

Sam, who must not have been quite asleep, opened one eye tiredly, and said, "That's good," before letting his eye droop again.

Dean strokes his brother's wing a few times, then takes a few steps forward and sits down next to his father. "They really do take the whole leash thing seriously here, huh?"

John understands the implications of Dean's words right away. "I'm going to work solo tomorrow." He peels off his socks and tucks them inside his boots. "Stay in the hotel room with Sammy."

Dean looks like he's about to protest, but John slings an arm over his shoulder, in front of his wings, and stands up, pulling Dean up with him. John then lets Dean go and makes his way over to the boys' bed, pulling the covers out from under Sam, before stopping to pull of the younger angel's shoes. Dean leans down to unlace his own boots. Once Sam's shoes are gone, John tucks the boy in mindful of his wings, and pulls the covers down on the other side of the bed.

Dean rolls his eyes. "I'm too old for this." But he goes over and gets into bed next to Sam anyway, shoving his bothers wing up so he can fit underneath. John gives Dean a pat on the head and sets the alarm clock for a few hours later before collapsing into bed himself.

When the alarm goes off, Dean stares at the ceiling tiredly, and Sam groans. John turns the alarm off, and slips into the bathroom to get dressed, leaving the door ajar to tell Dean, "Don't leave the room while I'm gone, and make sure Sam doesn't either. Salt the door and windows once I leave, and don't open the door for anyone. I have a key, so I won't have to knock. Make sure you both get a shower in before I get back, because we're leaving as soon as I do. Don't answer the phone unless it rings once, then starts ringing again. That's how you'll know it's me. And make sure your brother eats a decent breakfast."

Dean lies in bed and watches as his father came out, dressed as a priest, set a shotgun on the bedside table, in case of emergencies, and sling the duffle bag over his shoulder. "Yes, sir." He replies, half asleep.

John pauses at the door, "And most importantly…"

"Look out for Sammy." Dean finishes. His father is back to his usual gruff self, which is not great, but is only to be expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I added a way to keep track of the timeline, for which I actually did the math, but it isn't taken from the show. Dean is fourteen and Sam is ten. Angels age at roughly the same rate as humans.


	3. May 9th, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the police come after John and the boys, they're forced to leave town, despite the fact that Adam is not in any state to be traveling.

John Winchester has never been in a more awkward situation in his entire life, not even when he was a teenager and had to listen to his mother and potential step-fathers in the next room, or when Mary had gotten her period when they were on one of their early dates, sill teenagers and unsure of themseleves. At least in those situations he was seperate, in another room, being ignored or sent off to procure tampons. Here he's in the car and he can't escape, and more than that, these are his children, his sons. So what if Sam is legally an adult, and Dean is past the drinking age? So what if there are idiots who would argue that Adam isn't really male? So what if they ate an entirly different species?

Of course the boys being an entirely different species is the crux of the issue. He can't sense the phermones that Adam is giving off, which makes sitting next to Sam and Dean and their obvious reactions in the front seat even more awkward. Adam lets out a whimper from the back seat, and John n tries to push aside his own feelings down. No matter how bad it is for him, it's wore for Adam, and he needs to remember that. It's hard though, since Sam and Dean are really too big to be sharing the seat, and their crowding John in, especially with the wings.

Ideally, they'd spend Addam's heat at a motel, or at least the boys would, Adam with his own room if they could afford it, and his own bed if they couldn't, John taking the couch or floor in the interest of his boys. Sam and Dean would spend as much time out of the room as they could, and when they couldn't, they'd take turns in the bathroom taking care of themselves and John would be lucky to get five minutes in edgewise.

When Adam had gone into heat this time, John had made those arrangments, then set out to hunt down a vengeful spirt with Sam and Dean while Adam sweated out his heat at the motel in town. The local sherriff though apparently takes grave decicration very seriously, and would have arrrested John and Dean if Sam hadn't been on the look out. As it was, only the fact that they are extremely good at packing up and leaving in a hurry got them out of town before the sheriff's goons could catch up.

Hopefully, they'll make it over the county line by morning, and John can find them a motel and get Adam back into a proper bed. Then he'll drag Sam and Dean out to get a newspaper and they'll look for their next case, and once they find it, they'll be on the road again the day after the next one, when Adam's heat is over. Despite what everyone says, heats are hardly yhe end of the world. John tries to focus on that though, hoping to make things less awkward. It doesn't work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so sorry about not updating for so long, but a lack of computer will do that. This is just a teaser until I get my computer back and then there will be more in depth plot-relevent chapters.
> 
> Also a note on angel biology: omega angels, both male and female, get heats about once every three moths starting anywhere from age 12 to age 16. Angels have four biological sexes, alpha male, alpha female, omega male and omega female, with an even distrubution among all of them. Alpha females and omega males are what would be considered hemaphrodetic by human standards. An omega in heat becomes mildly fevered and extremly lethargic, as well as more easily sexualy stimulated, but not to the point of being unable to think. A heat generally lasts three rays or so. Any Alpha within 50 feet of the phermones an omega in heat gives off gets a raging hard on and maks them restless and agitated if they don't have sex. How much control alphas and omegas are able or willing to exert over their actions depends mostly on upbringing.


	4. April 17th, 2001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adam is surprised by his own daring while John and the boys are in a small town in Georgia, investigating a woman's suspicious and gruesome murder.

Adam is nervous. He’s relatively new to the deception side of hunting, but Dean in laid up with a broken wing, so it’s Sam and Adam who are wearing the police angel harnesses. There is an angel witness to the murder, who belonged to the woman who was killed, and Adam feels a pang of empathy for him. The angel is not a child, but he’s still fairly young, twenty-five at most, and he’s at a loss as to what to do. John sends Adam to talk to him, while he flashes his FBI badge and talks to the human witnesses and the police, and Sam surveys the crime scene. Since angels had a better sense of smell than humans, it was not an uncommon practice to send them in to look over crime scenes, and Sam had the added bonus of understanding the crime scene people.

The angel’s name is Matthew, and he’s mostly composed himself by the time Adam goes to talk to him. He’s slightly nervous about talking to Adam at first, but Adam slowly wins him over, mostly by telling him a censored version of his own early orphaning. From Matthew, Adam learns two things: first, that it was a vengeful spirt attached to a cursed object that killed the woman, and second, that the county police in this part of Georgia are assholes. Matthew had called them when he found the body, but as soon as they came, they took him into custody, and wouldn’t let him talk to anybody. It was only through John’s demanding cooperation that Adam was allowed to talk to him. Matthew was terrified of what would happen to him now that his mistress is dead. Adoption rates for angels once they hit puberty is ridiculously low, and since the woman had no local family, the Sheriff’s Office wasn’t going to call anyone to come get him.

Adam’s heart tightens, and he promises himself them and there that he’ll try to fix the situation with Matthew. He asks Matthew if there are any relatives of his mistress with whom he felt he would do well. Matthew says that she does have one nephew who’s been kind to him whenever he visited, but he lives out in Scottsdale, which is on the other side of the country. Adam says he’ll take care of it for him. When Matthew asks how Adam can promise that as an angel, Adam makes up some lie about his handler being very understanding.

Adam is a little shocked at how easily he can lie about that, when he has no intention of telling John about Adam’s problem. Perhaps it’s because he knows John is understanding, in his way, which is why Adam can do what he does at all. After the interview, he asks to be let out of the kennel in which they’re keeping Matthew. He tells John that Adam didn’t give him anything that would be helpful in a standard investigation when they’re in the police station and he can feel the officers judging him, and it takes everything he has to act normally. The second they’re out in the Impala though, Adam tells John about the objects she brought into the house, and how he thinks it was probably one of them, given the lack of other signs. 

When they talk to Sam, Sam confirms what Adam suspected, that it’s a cursed object, so John goes to the hardware store to get a base for the lock box, and leaves the boys alone in the hotel room. Adam slips out to the payphone across the parking lot, making sure not to break the salt line. He doesn’t have much money, so he decides he’ll try calling collect. He hopes this nephew won’t be too mad about picking up the bill. He had to fold his wings up close to fit them in. He realizes then that he doesn’t even know the nephews number. He figures he’ll have to do this one step at a time. He presses the collect call button and waits for the operator to connect. 

When the female voice comes through, he says, “I need to reach a man named Aaron Ackles, in Scottsdale Arizona.”

“One moment please,” the voice on the other end of the line says coolly. Adam tries to control his breathing. “I’ve found the person you’re looking for. Whom should I say is calling?”

“Special Agent Peter Victroni,” Adam says, using the alias on John’s badge. “I’m investigating the death of his aunt, Ms. Daphne Ackles.”

“You’re calling of official government business?” she asks, clearly confused.

Adam has his explanation ready. “Not officially. I’m following a hunch that my supervisor believes is a waste of time. Knowing more about the victim is the key to catching her killer, I’m sure of it. Nothing on the record, just whatever Mr. Ackles feels like sharing. Any bit could be the clue that leads us to crack this case.” He tries to sound official and commanding, like he’s used to people doing what he says.

He must have succeeded, because she says, “I’ll tell him that this is off the record. One moment.” Adam closed his eyes and prayed to a God who he knew didn’t care.  
After what feels like forever, but is probably no more than a minute, a voice comes through the phone and says, “What does the FBI want with me?”

“We’re investigating the death of your Aunt, Ms. Daphne Ackles.” He starts wondering if using titles like that is really a special-angenty thing to do, of if that’s something he made up.

“Aunt Daphne is dead?” He asks. He sounds like he’s in shock.

“I’m afraid so,” Adam says. He wonders if real F.B.I. agents feel as guilty as hunters do when people die. “The County Sheriff’s Office here is working out the details in terms of next-of-kin, so you’ll probably hear it from other sources as well.”

“What killed her?” The man asks, and Adam almost wishes he’d asked ‘who’, because he feels like he ought to spit back a hunter’s answer: ‘Cursed object. Probably possessed. We’re working on a lockbox.’ 

Instead, Adam says, “We have a suspect, and now it’s only a matter of finding proof. We’re working on that.” It’s technically true, even if their suspect is long dead and killing from beyond the grave.

“What do you need from me?” the man asks.

“We need your help tying up some loose ends.” Adam says. Before the man can respond to that, he quickly continues. “You’re aunt owned an angel by the name of Matthew, did she not?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” the man asks, confused.

“The Country Sheriff’s office will most likely end up euthanizing Matthew,” Adam says. Technically, they’ll turn him over to the local pound, who’ll euthanize him if nobody adopts him within two or three days, but he wants to go for shock value. “If nobody steps forward to take him in,” Adam adds, in the shocked silence that follows.

“How do I know you’re really F.B.I.?” the man asked, suspicion clear in his voice. “You could be with the Angel Liberation Front or some bullshit like that. There’s no way to show your badge over the phone.” Adam doesn’t tell him how easy it is to make a believable fake badge.

Instead, he says, “Look, you can call up the Sheriff’s Office in Durham County, Georgia, and they’ll confirm everything I just said. I’d offer you the number, but you clearly don’t trust me, and you can get it from 411. Ask them about what they intend to do with Matthew. What you do is up to you. I only called you because I promised Matthew I would, and I’m a man of my word. Good day.” Then he hangs up the phone so the man won’t hear how hard his heart is pounding.

His wings are cramped and parts of them have fallen asleep, and he exhales half with pain and half with relief when he steps out of the phone booth. He hopes Aaron Ackles comes for Matthew. Otherwise, he just risked his neck for no reason. It occurs to him that even if Mr. Ackles hadn’t trusted him, he still probably never once suspected that he was an angel, despite the fact that it’s common knowledge that angels can speak as well as humans.

He wonders at that as he hurries across the parking lot. He has his collar, and there are no leash laws in this county, but it’s not good to be caught out without a human. He bangs on the door, and Dean lets him in, after making him step over the salt line and testing him with silver and holy water. Adam has to duck under Dean’s wing, since it’s been splinted and isn’t really maneuverable. 

He’s glad that neither Sam nor Dean ask what he was up to, though Sam does give him a knowing look. What he did is what they always did, prevent random strangers from   
having horrible things happen to them, but he doesn’t think they’d understand. They’ve been with John for two long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update this. I've been working on a bunch of chapters on and off, but I've been busy with school and writing other things, which you may have read. I wrote this over a period of two phonology classes. Enjoy.


	5. November 2007

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobby isn't going to turn way Sam and Dean when they come to him for help at three in the morning, no matter what he might think of John Winchester.

Bobby Singer was not expecting anyone to knock on his door at three o'clock in the morning. Of course, being a mostly retired hunter who ran a hub for other hunters, Bobby wasn't exactly surprised, but he sure as hell was worried. Anyone who came to his door in the middle of the night was either in desperate trouble and needed his help, wanted to kill him, or, in some extreme cases, both. Bobby wasn't about to deny help to anybody, or at least not to any human or angel, but he wasn't going to take any chances either. He found his pants, threw them on, and picked up the shot gun that he kept loaded by his bedside.

When he opened the door, he blinked a few times. He didn't recognize the three angels standing in his front steps right away, although they looked familiar. He frowned at them, not lowering his gun, until the tallest one said, "Uncle Bobby?" 

Bobby knew that voice. He lowered his gun. "Sam? Dean? Damn, you boys have grown. Come in. Step over the salt line and don't break it though."

Dean stepped over first. "Sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night like this, but we weren't sure where else to go."

Bobby set his gun down and picked up a silver fork that was lying on the table. Dean held out his arm automatically, and Bobby pressed the twines of the fork up against his bare skin. "You boys are always welcome here, and you know it."

Sam stepped next to his brother and held out his arm as well, as did the other angel they had with them. Bobby pressed the fork to each of their arms in turn. When none of them showed any adverse reaction to the silver, Bobby tossed the fork aside and pulled first Dean, then Sam into a hug.

"It's good to see you Bobby," Sam said, curling his wings as well as his arm around Bobby. Bobby hadn't had time to put a shirt on, and the feathers felt peculiar on his bare back, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

The other angel who was with them had taken a few steps back, and Dean dragged him forward. Bobby noticed that Dean's right wing was wrapped and resolved to ask him about the injury later. Dean pulled the young man right up to Bobby and said, "This is Adam."

The angel stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Bobby shook his hand. "Likewise."

"Dad took Adam in after a werewolf took out the woman he was living with." Sam answered Bobby's unasked question. "He's been hunting with us since then." 

"He's welcome here." Bobby said, and Dean smiled slightly, pulling Adam into his left side. Bobby looked between the three of them. "You're daddy's in trouble, ain't he?"

Dean and Sam shared a look. It was Adam who said, "He's dead."

"Damn." Said Bobby. "We didn't always get along, but...damn. What got to him?"

Dean bit his lip. "Bobby, we found it. We found the demon who killed our Mom, only..."

"It was a truck, driven by a demon." Sam cut in. "It crashed into the impala and killed Dad. Dean was pretty badly hurt to, but then he ended up at an animal hospital, and then he heard from on of the nurses there that Dad was dead, so he came and busted us out of the shelter where they'd taken us when the ambulance came for Dad."

"We let them take us," Adam added. "We knew they took Dean separately, and we wanted to be somewhere he could find us."

Bobby frowned. "If the Impala got wrecked, how did you boys get here?"

Dean shrugged. "I hotwired some random beige colored sedan."

"And the impala?" Bobby asked hesitantly.

Dean looked miserable. Sam spoke up, "It's at someplace called Sandpine." Dean looked at him incredulously. Sam shrugged. "I overheard one of the officers saying that's where they towed it. I didn't say anything because I didn't know where that was." Dean snorted. Adam rolled his eyes.

"I'll look into it in the morning," Bobby said. "Meantime, you boys need sleep. Your room's still set up, and I think I have and air mattress in the hall closet for Adam. Come on." Bobby set off up the stairs and the three angels followed him.

Bobby didn't have a lot of company exactly, but he had his fair share of hunters that wanted a place to crash for a few nights and as such, he was prepared. The air mattress had been a gift from Garth, and he only ever seemed to break it out for Anna, who traveled with Garth. The other hunters were content enough to crash on the couch for the night, often having to make do with the backseat of a car. Garth was too, but he suggested that Bobby should have one. Of course it was twin-sized and Garth would never let Anna have the couch if he had a mattress.

Bobby pulled the mattress out of the cabinet at the top of the stairs where he kept the spare sheets. He didn't have much use for it, because he only washed his own sheets once and a while, and just put the same ones on, and he kept a pile of spare blankets downstairs for the hunters who crashed on his couch, and he hadn't had anyone in the spare room, which he reserved for kids or those he'd known since they were kids, like Sam and Dean, in years. When Karen was alive, she'd had it set up like that so her nieces could come visit, and because she hoped to have kids of her own one day. Bobby still regretted denying her that, and figured he might have given in if they'd had a few more years. It didn't matter either way now, because she was dead, and he had the boys, at least. He grabbed the mattress and led them to the room.

The room was exactly as it had been the last time the boys had been there. Dean slapped Bobby on the back. "Look's great." He hopped up onto the bed on the left. "Dibs bed by the window."

Sam sighed. "Fine, I'll take the other one." He took the mattress from Bobby. "Here. I'll set the mattress up for Adam." While Sam was doing that, Adam himself slipped gingery past Bobby and made his way into the room, sitting on the edge of Dean's bed. Dean sat up and wrapped his good wing around the younger angel.

Bobby cleared his throat. "I'm going back to bed. You boys need anything?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah, we're good."

Bobby nodded. "Right. We are going to talk about this in the morning." With that he turned around and headed back to bed, figuring that things would be easier with a bit more sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Now comes the fun part, where we get actual stories told within the universe, all taking place at different points, which is why I posted this first to give everyone an idea of what's happening when.


End file.
